By Jennifer Shaheen, May 20, 2010 | As seen in Marketing Coach

Today’s small businesses are just as active using social media as consumers; however, the way they approach social media is very different. Small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) are learning to use social media to communicate with their customers, discover new trends and generate ideas. They are finding social media platforms to be an effective and efficient way to get their message to the right people.

The best way to connect with small businesses is to start with what they need most:
research and information.

Information is available through many social media applications – from blogs and podcasts to LinkedIn groups and Facebook pages. When evaluating the channel for reaching your SMB audience, I recommend focusing on the specifics regarding the business you target:

• What type of industry are they a part of?
• What social media tools are they using to connect with their own customers?
• Who are they looking to for industry information?

This last point is particularly important, as SMBs want to stay in touch with their own specialty. They look to industry-specific blogs, podcasts and online groups, and follow industry leaders on Twitter and Facebook. Recognizing that they are thirsty for information can make targeting and connecting with the small business much easier.

Find Industry Influencers

Begin to identify the information leaders or influencers in your SMB audience; they have the ability to spread your message faster and with greater conversion.

Review what the industry influencers have to say and how they connect with their audience:

• Do they have a blog where they invite comments from readers?
• Do they use their Facebook page or Twitter to connect with their customers?
• What kinds of things are they talking about: updates and information about their business or broader topics like industry trends, tips and fun, interesting tidbits that their audience would be interested in hearing?

Take note of their fans, followers, comments or threads in groups; these will depend on the social medium they use. This will be the audience that you will want to reach. You’ll also want to take note of which mediums are the most successful at gaining their audience’s attention, which garner the most activity or get the most people talking.

Look for a way to connect with these individuals; reaching out to them to broadcast your message is more efficient and creates a bigger impact than doing it yourself:

• Leave comments that show your interest on their Facebook pages
• Follow them on Twitter or connect with them on LinkedIn
• Look for “Contact Info” and send them an email pitching an idea for collaboration after you establish a connection

Approaching people through social media is about talking to the individual, not the mass market. Your connection should be authentic, acknowledging the individual’s contribution to the industry and offering a specific message that is designed to appeal to their needs as an influencer; this means it needs to have a benefit for them.